WHAT'S FOR DINNER?

Green Chile Pork Stew

If you have had the green chile stew at Z'Tejas or the Roaring Fork, you know how fabulous it is. It is a dish that I craved over and over until one day, I decided to make it for myself!

This has definitely become a family favorite over the past year. In fact, it even took over the spot for regular beef stew which used to me one of those meals the boys couldn't get enough of during the winter.

Ingredients:

• 5-6 thick boneless pork chops, trimmed and cut into bite size pieces (I get mine at Costco!)
• Olive oil or canola oil
• 1 large white or yellow onion, chopped
• 3-4 garlic cloves crushed and minced
• 1 – 1 ½ cans of chicken broth
• 1 jar of Cookwell Green Chile Soup mix (sold at HEB) OR 3 cans of Hatch green enchilada sauce
• 2 small cans of chopped Hatch green chilies
• 1 tsp of cumin
• 1 tsp of pepper
• 3-4 potatoes cut into bite size chunks (add during last hour of cooking time)
• Optional: Monterrey jack cheese (sprinkle on top of stew before serving)

Saute garlic and onions in oil. Remove from oil and set aside. In a gallon Ziploc bag, add 1 cup flour and 2 tbsp of Montreal steak seasoning. Add pork chop to flour until well coated, and then brown in oil in cast iron/dutch oven pot. I usually have to do mine in 3 or 4 batches since it won’t all brown at once. Add all browned pork back to pot, along with the rest of the ingredients (including cooked garlic/onion). During the last hour, add potatoes and stir well.

Bring to boil and then SIMMER for 3 hours…I have even cooked for 4 hours…the longer the better! The pork should fall apart easily with a fork. Stir every 30 minutes so it does not stick/brown to bottom of skillet. If it gets too thick as it cooks, you can add more chicken broth.

You can also do this meal in the crock pot! Brown pork and then add all ingredients to the crock pot. Cook on high for at least 3 hours or 5 hours on low!

Sprinkle with Monterrey jack cheese and serve with warm flour tortillas! If you have leftovers (we rarely do!), you can make green chili pork enchiladas the next day...so yummy! A cool front just came in so guess what's for dinner?